Introduction

The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has conducted a regulatory microbiological testing program for Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meat and poultry products since 1983. RTE products are fully cooked before packaging and do not require further cooking by the consumer. However, these products are susceptible to contamination with pathogens during peeling, slicing, repackaging, and other processing steps after the required kill step to eliminate pathogens. Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a pathogen of particular concern for RTE products, because it is capable of growth at refrigerated temperatures. Processing establishments ensure RTE products do not become contaminated with Lm or other pathogens of concern, such as Salmonella, by applying a treatment to the product after its exposure to the processing environment (post-lethality treatment) and use a growth inhibitor (antimicrobial agent or process) to prevent the growth of L. monocytogenes in the product up to its declared shelf life.

FSIS laboratories located in Alameda, CA, St. Louis, MO, and Athens, GA analyze RTE samples for microbial hazards of public health concern, including Lm and Salmonella. The data reported here are from sampling projects conducted from 1990 through 2014.

FSIS does not view the results of regulatory testing as estimates of national product prevalence. The agency, however, does consider the RTE regulatory results to be an indicator of the trends in pathogen presence in these products.

The RLm sampling program was designed to detect Lm in the environment of a production establishment.

RLMPRODC are routine product samples taken for post-lethality-exposed product, based on risk.

RLMCONT are routine food contact surface swab samples taken for post-lethality-exposed product, based on risk.

RLMENVR are routine samples of brine or chill water that does not come into direct contact with post-lethality exposed product. Since no RLMENVR samples tested positive for Lm in 2012 through 2014, no tables are shown.

FSIS analyzes a 25g sample to detect Lm. FSIS analyzed 3,263 for Lm as part of the ALLRTE and RTEPROD_RAND sampling project and 8,898 samples as part of the RTE001 and RTEPROD_RISK sampling projects (Table 35). There were 37 positive samples detected (0.30% positive; 11 from the AllRTE/RTEPROD_RAND and 26 from RTE001/RTEPROD_RISK).

FSIS analyzes a 25g sample to detect Lm. FSIS analyzed 3,353 for Lm as part of the ALLRTE and 7,650 samples as part of the RTE001 sampling projects (Table 30). There were 32 positive samples detected (0.29 % positive; 6 from the ALLRTE and 26 from RTE001).